I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Only a Monster by Vanessa Len Series: Monsters #1
Published by HarperTeen on 2/22/22
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 412
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Don’t forget the rule. No one can know what you are. What we are. You must never tell anyone about monsters.
Joan has just learned the truth: her family are monsters, with terrifying, hidden powers.
And the cute boy at work isn’t just a boy: he’s a legendary monster slayer, who will do anything to destroy her family.
To save herself and her family, Joan will have to do what she fears most: embrace her own monstrousness. Because in this story…she is not the hero.
Sweet and Short Review
Joan’s grandma has always told her stories about monsters but Joan has brushed them off and took them for what they were stories. That is until Joan has a strange encounter and travels through time and realizes that her grandma wasn’t just telling stories her family are monsters and there are other monster families out there. The boy that Joan works with, Nick, he’s the hero, the monster slayer and he won’t stop until he’s finished his mission: killing all the monsters.
Joan has a date with Nick but on her way to the date she ends up time traveling, upon returning home she learns from her grandmother that she is a monster and their whole family is and every monster family has a distinct power. When Joan tries to explain why she missed her date with Nick a family appears and that day ends in disaster. Now Joan must time travel to unravel the massacre that just happened.
This world had a unique magic system I liked hearing about the different families and what they could do even if we didn’t see all of the families in this book. Joan has to team up with Aaron Oliver which is hard because everyone knows the Hunts and Oliver families hate each other so other monster families who see them find it strange. Joan also has her cousin Ruth and later on Tom join her on her mission to set things right.
Joan was an okay character. She didn’t know a lot about the monster world everything she was learning was right there on the spot, but for some reason she thought she knew better than everyone around her. I did like how she was determined but sometimes her determination led her to make reckless and selfish decisions I also didn’t like how she would argue to the point of throwing a tantrum just to get her way. I’m hoping that in the next book Joan gets so serious character development.
The time traveling aspect was great and it was interesting to see the other families and learn about the time traveling they were doing, and how the monsters had to steal time from humans to actually do the traveling.
The romance was… something. Joan and Aaron spend most of the book together because he’s helping her try to set things right and there are some sparks there. But Joan can’t stop thinking about Nick the boy who literally destroyed her. Anyway it’s like a love hate thing going on between those two and I was not here for it. Every time Nick popped up I was just waiting for him to kill Joan or vice versa but they were both kind of weak in that aspect.
I really enjoyed this book the plot and the world were captivating and kept me wanting more. I do wish that Joan were less childish, but this book is worth the read and I’m excited to see what happens next!
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